When you talk about great programs in high school football in the state of Texas you would have to mention teams like Southlake Carroll, Katy, Lufkin, Judson and Smithson Valley. This Thursday Madison gets to host their neighbors from the north at Comalander stadium in the Mavs Home opener. Under Coach Hill the Rangers have always done things one way and that is controlling the clock while being consistent in all areas of the game. The 2006 version out of Comel County is not much different than last year; they will bring an attacking style defense and a clock controlling offence to the contest. This week’s match up will be the city’s game of the week as it will pit the express news number 1 team vs. the number 2 team.

Rangers Offence: If you had to compare Smithson Valley to another team that Madison has seen this year it would have to be O’Connor. The Valley will bring an Offence that does not have much stand out star power but will execute plays and run the clock. Unlike Seguin, Wagner and Lee the Rangers will not have a lot of speed but will have some size up front. The Rushing attack is lead by Trent Rios, he does not sport blazing speed but has shown that he can break tackles and does not go down easily. Wrapping him up will be the key to stopping him. Rios will get a majority of the carries and averages 4.46 yards per carry. When Rios does not get the ball the Rangers like to run a toss reverse to WR Cody Ranken. The Rangers like to run the toss reverse when the Defense starts to over pursue Rios and it usually picks up some big yards and puts a lot of pressure on the corner backs to make a play. The Final cog of the SV offence and probably the most important is Coach Hill’s son Bryan Hill who will line up under center. Hill is not a running threat and does not have a big league arm but gets the job done with a Qb rating of just over 100 and completing 61% of his passes. The Rangers like throwing the high percentage pass to their wide outs but they do have a deep ball threat in Melvin Echard who brings a 16.63 yard per catch average to this week’s game. Echard is tall and Coach Hill will try and exploit any size advantage he can with his speedster. Don’t look for Smithson Valley to run a lot of trick plays and they also don’t try and hit the home run on every play, they would rather eat up clock and limit the touches by Madison’s athletes on offence. Traditionally SV does not make many mistakes but this years team has throw 2 INTs and has put the ball on the ground on several occasions. Taking advantage of any missteps will be key to winning for the Mavs.

Rangers Defense: Looking at the Rangers Defensive unit on paper or even during warm ups will make most people scratch their heads. Like the stellar units in the past the Rangers defense is not big at all. Size is not the advantage they bring to the table but speed and aggression are their mainstay. The 2006 version of the SV defense might be the most undersized unit they have had in recent memory. But that does not stop them from swarming to the ball and making sound open field tackles. The front 7 looks like they are all linebackers as they are all basically the same size. The defense philosophy is to disrupt the opponents play before it can materialize. The Line gets into the back field quick and the linebackers try and fill the gaps. They will blitz the linebackers as well but usually only on 3rd and long situations. The corners and safeties have nice size and decent speed. They are not stellar but can make plays if the quarter-back makes a mistake. The defense can be summed up as opportunistic. They want to make their opponent have to limit their playbook by forcing long 3rd down situations or by playing the field position game.

Rangers Special Teams: Completing the package for the Rangers is their special teams. SV always has used the field to their advantage and this year is no different. Their punt team is real good as kicking inside the 20 and coverage is second to none. Kicking off this year will be SV star place kicker Travis Constanzo and while he does not have the leg to get balls in the end zone, Coach Hill is not afraid to use the pooch kick and leave the short field to his defense. Smithson Valley has an above average kick and punt return team. They will not run many back for TDs but won’t make mistakes either. The Key to the SV special teams is their field goal unit. Constanzo has emerged as one of the areas best and least week hit FGs in the second half of 32 and 35 yards. He has made 5 FG this year and is a perfect 13 of 13 on PATs. Smithson Valley also has the ability to block kicks as they did last week against Roosevelt.

Rangers Coaching and Extras: Head Coach Larry Hill is one of the best not only in the area but in the state. He has built a tradition of winners out in Comel County. Hill will not gamble on either side of the ball and expects his players to make plays. He does not leave time on the clock for his opponent to use and is a master at frustrating the opposing coaching staff. But the one thing he does better than anyone else is making second half adjustments. Last week down by 13-12 at half the rangers came back to pitch the second half shut out and score 10 unanswered points. In the Mac game it was more of the same with MacArthur making big plays in the first half to hang with Smithson Valley only to have SV run away with the game and shut out Mac in the second half. While the woodlands game was low scoring again SV would pitch the second half shut out.

In what looked like something from years past the Madison mavericks ran past Lee on Friday night at Comalander stadium. For the first three games of the season it was the Madison Defense that stepped up and made the big plays against some of the areas best teams, on Friday it was special teams and the running attack that took center stage.

While the passing game was no existence against Lee, with 0 completions in 3 attempts, it was not needed as the Mavs ran past, around and through the Vols. The Madison offence racked up an amazing 450 yards on the ground, lead by Junior Running Back Devin Thomas with his season high 244 yards. Also getting into the act was Junior QB Devin Myler who also had a season high of 128 yards on the ground.

Madison would jump out to an early lead after holding Lee to three and out on their first position of the game. Madison’s Rodney Green set up the opening score when he flew around the Lee punt team and blocked a punt attempt deep in Lee’s end of the field. The Mavs would score a few plays later as Devin Thomas would go around the right end for the touchdown.

The first half would be highlighted by Madison making some big hits, a timely fumble recovery and a Andrew Green interception in the end zone to stall a Lee drive. QB Devin Myler would add a score just before the half giving Madison a 14-7 lead going to the break.

Unlike the first half the second half would be highlighted by some big runs and both sides racking up points. The scoring would get underway on the second half opening kick off. Just like the week before in the Wagner game Lee would kick off out of bounds and instead of Madison taking the ball at the 30 they had Lee kick the ball again. Just like against Wagner the Mavs would make the Vols pay as Josh Miles ran back the kick off for a TD his second return for a TD of the Season.

Lee would rack up some big yards behind their RB and QB combination who racked up 271 rushing on the evening combined. The Vols would never get closer than a TD to the Mavs but would score 27 second half points against the Mavs defense.

Madison’s second half would be highlighted by big runs by Josh Miles, Devin Thomas and Devin Myler and by the time the 4th quarter rolled around the Big Madison offensive line wore down the Lee defense. In one stretch Madison would run a total of two plays from scrimmage and score on both runs.

While the game may not have gone the way the defense had wanted it was the first game that Madison faced a backfield threat of a speedster RB and a scrambling QB. The offence has improved each week to this point going into the first of several big show downs of 2006. With Smithson Valley up next and their top ranked defense coming to Comalander the Mavericks will need to take the rushing and passing attacks to the next level.

Madison Volleyball bounced back nicely last week picking up two victories with one counting toward district. After losing two matches the week before the Mavs took out some aggression on Roosevelt on Tuesday night and Incarnate Word High School on Friday.

Tuesday’s match against Roosevelt was important in that it finished off the first half of the district season with the Mavs posting a 4-4 record and are still in a good position to make a run at a playoff spot in district 26-5A. Mavs were lead by Amber Wetz and her incredible 6 kills, Sophomore May Allen pitched in with 25 assist. Bethany James also padded the stat book with 7 aces in the contest.

Friday saw the Mavs take a short break from district 26-5A competition. The opening of Wagner creating a 9 team district causes each team an off night, some teams take the bye while others like Madison scheduled a non-district opponent. IWHS would come to visit Littleton Gym on Friday and would give the Mavs all they could handle. The match would go to the 5th set with the Mavs pulling out the victory.

Looking ahead the Mavs have some big matches on the horizon and can control their own destiny with some timely victories. Each match will be important from here on out but if things play out the same as they did in the first half the Oct 17th match vs MacArthur will be the biggest of the season. In their first match up the Mavs jumped out early only to get taken to a 5th game and lose in a heart breaker. If the Mavs can turn the tables they could set up a one match playoff for the 4th and final spot in the playoffs. It’s a long way off and there is a lot of Volleyball to be played but the Mavs still have a shot at the post season.

This week the Mavs host Wagner on Monday at Littleton Gym and then match up with the up and down Lee Vols on Friday. The Mavs will be looking to continue their winning ways against two squads they beat handily in the first half of the season.

Both Varsity Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams completed this last week at the midseason UTSA meet. This year’s meet was moved from the Campus of UTSA because of construction and was run at the Brooks Army base golf Course. This will be the same track the teams will use for the Regional competition in early November.

The Boys and Girls squads both ran in the highly competitive Gold division and would run against some of the best competition in the state. The Girls team would finish 14th overall lead by Nicole Franco. Results for the girl’s team can be found here.

The Boys would finish in 17th place while being lead by Jimmy Peterson. The Boys results can be found here.

This week finds the teams traveling back down to the south side and San Antonio State School for the SAISD meet on Saturday morning.

Lots of people have inquired about how to get copies of the photos featured on the jamesmadisonsports.com website. Each week the Booster club photographers chronicle events by taking photos and then posting those photos in slideshows on the internet. Because of the great response the Booster Club will be selling CDs of each event photographed. Each CD will hold one events photos and will be the exact same photos seen on the website. The Criteria for purchasing these PhotoCDs are below:

While the booster Club would like to promote the Athletic Department and the kids that participate in Madison High School Athletics it is also important to protect each student athlete. To help in sure that the sale of these Photo CD ends up in the hands of supporters of Madison athletics the Booster Club has put together the following criteria that must be met to purchase the CDsAnyone wanting to purchase a Photo CD of an event must first be a member of the booster Club at any level or a student athlete at Madison high School. Booster Club memberships can be purchased at any of the potluck dinners list below at the Membership table. Memberships range from $20.00 for the year up to $65.00 for the year. Anyone wanting to purchase a Photo CD of an event must purchase them in person at one of the following events. Photo CDs must be purchased in person by the Booster Club member or Madison Athletes and can not be purchased online, by mail or by someone sent to purchase for someone else.

Each CD will have one event and will contain the same photos as seen on the jamesmadisonsports.com website. The CDs will be sold for $10.00 each. All proceeds from the sale of these CDs will go directly to the James Madison High School Booster Club.Photo CDs, jpg images and the photos remain the property of the James Madison Booster Club and its photographers. CDs are not to be copied or reproduced with out the consent of the Booster Club and the Photographer. Photos may be printed and emailed by the purchaser. Photos may not be used for commercial use with out the consent of the Booster Club and the Photographer. The booster club will make a limited number of CDs available at each Photo CD sales event. To insure a CD will be available at a certain event please email the Co-historian at jalbright@jamesmadisonsports.com to reserve a Photo CD for purchase at a particular event. Please include the Photo CD you are interested in with date and event name and the sales event where you would like to purchase the CD.The booster Club reserves the right to refuse sale for any reason, and may change dates for the sale of the CDs with out notice.Events photographed between Aug 1 2006 and Sept 21, 2006 will not be sold but will be made available free of charge but are limed in supply.

The booster Club will be meeting this Monday night at 6:15pm at the Madison High School Cafeteria. After the meeting the Boosters will be hosting the Freshman Football teams with a Pot luck dinner and interdiction.